Constance of Sicily

Constance of Sicily (2 November 1154-27 November 1198) was Queen of Sicily from 1194 to 27 November 1198, succeeding William III of Sicily and preceding Frederick II of Germany. She was the last ruler of Sicily from the House of Hauteville, and her marriage to Henry VI of Germany led to the Holy Roman Empire ruling Sicily after her death.

Biography
Constance was born on 2 November 1154, the posthumous daughter of Roger II of Sicily and Beatrice of Rethel. She was originally a nun, and she needed papal dispensation to marry; she was betrothed to Henry VI of Germany on 29 October 1184, marrying him on 27 January 1186. In 1190, she became Holy Roman Empress after the death of Frederick Barbarossa, and in 1194 she became Queen of Sicily as the only surviving member of the House of Hauteville. Her husband seized Sicily from Tancred of Lecce's forces without opposition, and Sicily became a domain of the Holy Roman Empire. On 26 December 1194, she gave birth to a son, the future Frederick II of Germany, in the small town of Iesi (near Ancona). She gave birth to him in a pavilion tent in the market square, inviting the town matrons to watch the birth; she publicly breast-fed the infant a few days later. She died in 1198 at the age of 44.